Under the scheme, would-be migrants worth a minimum of $1.6 million loaned the government $800,000 interest-free for a period of five years. The simplicity and low relative cost of the risk-free scheme made it the world's most popular wealth immigration programme.

In response 10 investor applicants in Beijing held a news conference to plead to the Government of Canada not to dismiss the pending 45,500 applications that had been frozen in the system.

Their desire? Process those applications before terminating the program. Those investor applicants (some of whom had applied five years ago) also stated that they were discussing their options with lawyers in Canada and whether to sue for compensation for the years they had been waiting.

Well now it appears it's not just applicants in Beijing who keen to litigate.

40 Chinese community groups in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond gathered this week to also protest the cancelation of Program - and to discuss their own plans to sue the Federal Government.

Chinese community groups gathered in Richmond to protest the cancelation of the Investor Class Program in last month’s federal budget, and to consolidate their efforts to fight, and potentially sue, the government.

Banners with messages such as, “We love Canada. We are willing to contribute” and “Say no to the latest changes of immigration policy” provided the backdrop Wednesday for the six-person panel, which addressed the crowd about the economic implications of cancelling a program which expedites immigration for the wealthy.

Chris Ho, an immigration lawyer, who was the only speaker to address the crowd in English, pointed out the mixed messages being sent by the government in regards to investment and immigration.

“The immigration minister had announced ... that a new investor program would be coming. That was in January of 2014. In February, we have the minister of finance announce that the program is being cancelled.”

In justifying the cancellation, Minister of Immigration Chris Alexander is reported as saying, “there is also little evidence that immigrant investors as a class are maintaining ties to Canada or making a positive economic contribution to the country.

“Overall, immigrant investors report employment and investment income below Canadian averages and pay significantly lower taxes over a lifetime than other categories of economic immigrants.”

Ho argues that the minister has no evidence. “Do we have a very conclusive study or information that can point us to that? I don’t think so,” he said.

But the paying of tax isn't the only angle the group is pursuing. There is, in their words, "the issue of expectations":

“There is a doctrine called legitimate expectation. This is not new. For someone who has already filed an application, they would expect someone to deal with the application. You can’t just cancel the application without doing anything.”

The groups also speculated on the economic impact of the cancellations:

Steve Kou, a representative from the business community, gave his speech in Chinese, but later answered questions in English about the economic impact of the lost of the investor program.

“If the cancellation happens, there are no new direct investors in Canada or B.C. So if there is no more money coming to Canada, the growth rate will slow further,” said Kou.

Kou stated that the cancellation would have a huge impact on the B.C. economy, in almost all areas, starting with real estate.

“The first area would be real estate. If you cannot immigrate to Canada, why buy the properties here?”

And in an attempt to leave no racist card unplayed, the groups also threw out this beauty:

Sophia Huang, another lawyer on the panel, challenged the government’s attitude, stating that Chinese immigrants came to Canada 125 years ago as railroad builders, and paid a head-tax, which was recently apologized for, but now they are saying “please don’t come.”

“We are saying, ‘Listen, you need to communicate with us better. We would like to come here, this is our country, not only your country, it’s ours. Our Chinese ancestors built this.’”

The coalition, supported by more than 40 community organizations, is calling for supporters to vote for people who will speak for the Chinese voice. It is also threatening a possible class action lawsuit for those affected by the immigration changes.

19 comments:

How come no one is organizing anything in support of Chris Alexander's decision? Something need to be done to counter in protest against the use of tax payers money to sustain the social welfare of those 'investors' who didn't contribute tax but just created real estate speculative market. Someone needs to collect the vote of Canadian who support the immigration policy changes.

If there is a government on Earth that is as incompetent as Canada's, and which has led to a fraction as much of its taxpayer's money being ultimately incinerated as this country's has, I'd love to know...it would be some relief to know there is such a place.

I came across a chart at economicgreenfield.com (Ted Kavadas) that illustrates some effects of big money on the class divide and I have mashed it up with charts of Canadian confidence, inflation and GDP sector weightings:

http://www.chpc.biz/2/post/2014/03/class-ceiling.html

With CPI turning into an uptrend, I think that our heavy reliance on consumption to generate an economy is going to produce a lot more inflation and consumption barriers to the Canadian Consumer.

Plus save taxpayers money when they are back to retire here and use our pensions and healthcare. Chinese IIP's came here only to get the passport or PR. IIP's should pay real money to the government for such immigration.

Additionally, chines are driving Canadians out of Vancouver by overstimulating real estate prices up; Richmond should not be lived in just because half the restaurants and places are "Chinese Only". Here is what they generally say: "We come here for the citizenship and then we go back home - to make money while we are young. We will come back to Canada to retire." Retiring will cost the real tax payers cash... Just Milking the System. Have this IIP a paid option = 300 000 CAD - sounds good. And build or renovate the community centers, cut provincial tax, install more Electric Charging Stations...

The loan is mismanaged by the gov't. The investors do not really create any real jobs and contribute to the economy. There are a lot of empty store fronts as investor businesses who claim to have employees. They have deep pockets to pay next to no taxes in this country. They want 100% benefits on their side without giving back to this country.

I can see where they're coming from. I understand that it's an application and that it's not guaranteed but to put up $800k for the application to not even be looked at... I'd be pretty angry too. If I knew it wasn't going to be looked at, I'd put that $800k into something else

There is no 800 K application fee. There is probably a few hundred dollar refundable fee. There is a refundable interest free loan to the Government of $800K which you get back after 5 years and which you only pay when you have been accepted.

Of course these RE agents, lawyers and mortgage brokers are assisting these investors in this law suit. I know of a mortgage broker in his 2nd year of business who lacked personality make over 300k in 2012 from Chinese investors. He has probably exceeded that number in 2013 and will in 2014. He wanted his wife to become a real estate agent.

Wealthy Chinese immigrants have shown little to no desire to integrate with Canadian culture. They seem to only want to set up shop here and create a bubble where they can reap all the rewards of citizenship and contribute little to nothing to the economy.

Good riddance. It's about time the politicians stopped whoring out Canadian citizenship to the highest bidder. If you love Canada so much, reapply as a *real* immigrant and go through the exact same process that people who actually contribute to their adopted countries do - work here, reside here rather than overseas, and pay TAXES here instead of trying to bribe Canadian officials like you do in China.

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